Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Commitments and Contingent Liabilities [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

(19) Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

The Company's concentrations of credit risk are reflected in the consolidated balance sheets.  The concentrations of credit risk with standby letters of credit, unused lines of credit, commitments to originate new loans and loans sold with recourse generally follow the loan classifications.

At December 31, 2011, approximately 58% of the Company's loans were secured by real estate located in central and northern New York, northeastern Pennsylvania, western Massachusetts and the greater Burlington, Vermont area.  Accordingly, the ultimate collectibility of a substantial portion of the Company's portfolio is susceptible to changes in market conditions of those areas. Management is not aware of any material concentrations of credit to any industry or individual borrowers.

The Company is a party to certain 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, unused lines of credit, standby letters of credit, and certain mortgage loans sold to investors with recourse. The Company's exposure to credit loss in the event of nonperformance by the other party to the commitments to extend credit, unused lines of credit, standby letters of credit, and loans sold with recourse is represented by the contractual amount of those instruments. The credit risk associated with commitments to extend credit and standby and commercial letters of credit is essentially the same as that involved with extending loans to customers and is subject to normal credit policies.  Collateral may be obtained based on management's assessment of the customer's creditworthiness.

	At December 31,
(In thousands)	2011		2010
Unused lines of credit	$	161,551	$	141,579
Commitments to extend credits, primarily variable rate		603,322		501,987
Standby letters of credit		26,783		26,193
Commercial letters of credit		15,218		16,255
Loans sold with recourse		16,175		13,970

Since many loan commitments, standby letters of credit, and guarantees and indemnification contracts expire without being funded in whole or in part, the contract amounts are not necessarily indicative of future cash flows.  The Company does not issue any guarantees that would require liability-recognition or disclosure, other than its standby letters of credit.

The Company guarantees the obligations or performance of customers by issuing stand-by letters of credit to third parties. These stand-by letters of credit are frequently issued in support of third party debt, such as corporate debt issuances, industrial revenue bonds, and municipal securities. The risk involved in issuing stand-by letters of credit is essentially the same as the credit risk involved in extending loan facilities to customers, and letters of credit are subject to the same credit origination, portfolio maintenance and management procedures in effect to monitor other credit and off-balance sheet products.  Typically, these instruments have terms of five years or less and expire unused; therefore, the total amounts do not necessarily represent future cash requirements.  The fair value of the Company's stand-by letters of credit at December 31, 2011 and 2010 was not significant.

The total amount of loans serviced by the Company for unrelated third parties was approximately $301.9 million and $323.2 million at December 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively.

In the normal course of business there are various outstanding legal proceedings. If legal costs are deemed material by management, the Company accrues for the estimated loss from a loss contingency if the information available indicates that it is probable that a liability had been incurred at the date of the financial statements, and the amount of loss can be reasonably estimated.  In the opinion of management, the aggregate amount involved in such proceedings at December 31, 2011 is not material to the consolidated balance sheets or results of operations of the Company.