Commitments, Contingencies, and Concentrations of Credit Risk

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments, Contingencies, and Concentrations of Credit Risk

Note 13. Commitments, Contingencies, and Concentrations of Credit Risk 

See Note 11 with respect to future obligations under noncancelable operating leases.

In the normal course of the Company’s business, there are various outstanding commitments and contingent liabilities such as commitments to extend credit that are not reflected in the financial statements. The following table presents the Company’s outstanding loan commitments at December 31, 2012.

($ in millions)
Type of Commitment	Fixed Rate		Variable Rate		Total
Outstanding closed-end loan commitments	$	66		258		324
Unfunded commitments on revolving lines of credit,   credit cards and home equity loans		33		184		217
Total	$	99		442		541

At December 31, 2012 and 2011, the Company had $12.8 million and $7.1 million, respectively, in standby letters of credit outstanding. The Company has no carrying amount for these standby letters of credit at either of those dates. The nature of the standby letters of credit is a guarantee made on behalf of the Company’s customers to suppliers of the customers to guarantee payments owed to the supplier by the customer. The standby letters of credit are generally for terms for one year, at which time they may be renewed for another year if both parties agree. The payment of the guarantees would generally be triggered by a continued nonpayment of an obligation owed by the customer to the supplier. The maximum potential amount of future payments (undiscounted) the Company could be required to make under the guarantees in the event of nonperformance by the parties to whom credit or financial guarantees have been extended is represented by the contractual amount of the standby letter of credit. In the event that the Company is required to honor a standby letter of credit, a note, already executed with the customer, is triggered which provides repayment terms and any collateral. Over the past two years, the Company has only had to honor several insignificant standby letters of credit, which have been or are being repaid by the borrower without any loss to the Company. Management expects any draws under existing commitments to be funded through normal operations.

The Company is not involved in any legal proceedings which, in management’s opinion, could have a material effect on the consolidated financial position of the Company.

The Bank grants primarily commercial and installment loans to customers throughout its market area, which consists of Anson, Beaufort, Bladen, Brunswick, Buncombe, Cabarrus, Carteret, Chatham, Columbus, Dare, Davidson, Duplin, Guilford, Harnett, Iredell, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, New Hanover, Onslow, Randolph, Richmond, Robeson, Rockingham, Rowan, Scotland, Stanly and Wake Counties in North Carolina, Chesterfield, Dillon, Florence and Horry Counties in South Carolina, and Montgomery, Pulaski, Roanoke, Washington and Wythe Counties in Virginia. The real estate loan portfolio can be affected by the condition of the local real estate market. The commercial and installment loan portfolios can be affected by local economic conditions.

The Company’s loan portfolio is not concentrated in loans to any single borrower or to a relatively small number of borrowers. Additionally, management is not aware of any concentrations of loans to classes of borrowers or industries that would be similarly affected by economic conditions.

In addition to monitoring potential concentrations of loans to particular borrowers or groups of borrowers, industries and geographic regions, the Company monitors exposure to credit risk that could arise from potential concentrations of lending products and practices such as loans that subject borrowers to substantial payment increases (e.g. principal deferral periods, loans with initial interest-only periods, etc), and loans with high loan-to-value ratios. Additionally, there are industry practices that could subject the Company to increased credit risk should economic conditions change over the course of a loan’s life. For example, the Company makes variable rate loans and fixed rate principal-amortizing loans with maturities prior to the loan being fully paid (i.e. balloon payment loans). These loans are underwritten and monitored to manage the associated risks. The Company has determined that there is no concentration of credit risk associated with its lending policies or practices.

The Company’s investment portfolio consists principally of obligations of government-sponsored enterprises, mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by government-sponsored enterprises, corporate bonds, FHLB stock and general obligation municipal securities. The following are the fair values at December 31, 2012 of available for sale and held to maturity securities to any one issuer/guarantor that exceed $2.0 million, with such amounts representing the maximum amount of credit risk that the Company would incur if the issuer did not repay the obligation.

($ in thousands) Issuer	Amortized Cost		Fair Value
Ginnie Mae - mortgage-backed securities	$	83,950		86,353
Small Business Administration		55,034		55,710
Federal Home Loan Bank System - bonds		9,000		9,088
Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta  - common stock		4,934		4,934
Craven County, North Carolina municipal bond		3,643		4,029
First Citizens Bancorp (South Carolina) – bond / trust preferred securities		3,998		3,813
Fannie Mae - mortgage-backed securities and collateralized mortgage obligations		3,701		3,987
Spartanburg, South Carolina Sanitary Sewer District municipal bond		3,293		3,662
Richmond County, North Carolina municipal bond		2,608		2,860
Federal Farm Credit bonds		2,500		2,508
South Carolina State municipal bond		2,133		2,384
Virginia State Housing Authority municipal bond		2,162		2,371

The Company places its deposits and correspondent accounts with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, the Federal Reserve Bank, and Bank of America and sells its federal funds to Bank of America. At December 31, 2012, the Company had deposits in the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta totaling $4.9 million, deposits of $133.8 million in the Federal Reserve Bank, deposits of $65.5 million in Bank of America, and deposits of $5 million with BB&T. None of the deposits held at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta or the Federal Reserve Bank, are FDIC-insured, however the Federal Reserve Bank is a government entity and therefore risk of loss is minimal. The deposits held at Bank of America and BB&T are FDIC-insured up to $250,000.