In the normal course of business there are various legal proceedings, commitments, and contingent liabilities which are not reflected in the Consolidated Financial Statements. Management does not anticipate any material losses as a result of these transactions and activities. They include, among other things, commitments to extend credit and standby letters of credit. The maximum exposure to credit loss, which represents the possibility of sustaining a loss due to the failure of the other parties to a financial instrument to perform according to the terms of the contract, is represented by the contractual amount of these instruments. QNB uses the same lending standards and policies in making credit commitments as it does for on-balance sheet instruments. The activity is controlled through credit approvals, control limits, and monitoring procedures.

A summary of the Bank's financial instrument commitments is as follows:


December 31,	2023		2022
Commitments to extend credit and unused lines of credit	$	378,954	$	339,312
Standby letters of credit		18,820		19,512
Total financial instrument commitments	$	397,774	$	358,824

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 the payment of a fee. Since many of the commitments are expected to expire without being drawn upon, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future cash requirements. QNB evaluates each customer’s creditworthiness on a case-by-case basis.

Standby letters of credit are conditional commitments issued by the Bank to guarantee the financial or performance obligation of a customer to a third party. QNB’s exposure to credit loss in the event of nonperformance by the other party to the financial instrument for standby letters of credit is represented by the contractual amount of those instruments. The Bank uses the same credit policies in making conditional obligations as it does for on-balance sheet instruments. Standby letters of credit totaling $16,417,000 expire within one year. The credit risk involved in issuing letters of credit is essentially the same as that involved in extending other loan commitments. The Bank requires collateral and personal guarantees supporting these letters of credit as deemed necessary. The amount of collateral obtained for letters of credit and commitments to extend credit is based on management’s credit evaluation of the customer. Collateral varies, but may include real estate, accounts receivable, marketable securities, pledged deposits, inventory or equipment. Management believes that the proceeds obtained through a liquidation of such collateral and the enforcement of personal guarantees would be sufficient to cover the maximum potential amount of future payments required under the corresponding guarantees. The amount of the liability as of December 31, 2023 and 2022 for guarantees under standby letters of credit issued is not material.

QNB has committed to various operating leases for several of their branch and office facilities. Some of these leases include specific provisions relating to rent increases. A maturity analysis of the operating lease liabilities and reconciliation of the undiscounted cash flows to the total operating lease liability is as follows:


	Operating Leases
2024	$	554
2025		534
2026		382
2027		335
2028		274
Thereafter		2,180
Total undiscounted cashflows		4,259
Total discount on cashflows		(1,227	)
Total lease liabilities	$	3,032

Some of the leases contain renewal options to extend the initial terms of the lease for periods ranging from five to ten years and certain leases allow for multiple extensions, the commitment for such renewals is not included above if they have not been exercised as of December 31, 2023. Operating lease costs, which include common area maintenance costs not included in the minimum lease payments above, for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, was $723,000, $712,000 and $749,000, respectively.