FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS WITH OFF-BALANCE SHEET RISK

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2026

FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS WITH OFF-BALANCE SHEET RISK

The Company is a party to financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk in the normal course of business to meet the financing needs of its clients. These financial instruments include commitments to extend credit and standby letters of credit. Those instruments involve, to varying degrees, elements of credit and interest rate risk in excess of the amount recognized in the unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheets. The contract amounts of those instruments reflect the extent of involvement the Company has in particular classes of financial instruments.

The Company’s exposure to credit loss in the event of nonperformance by the other party to the financial instrument for commitments to extend credit and standby letters of credit and financial guarantees written is represented by the contractual amount of those instruments. The Company uses the same credit policies in making commitments and conditional obligations as it does for on-balance sheet instruments. The following table presents these contractual, or notional, amounts at March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025:


	Contractual or Notional Amount
	March 31, 2026		December 31, 2025
Commitments to fund:
Home equity lines of credit	$	549,915	$	539,336
1-4 family residential construction loans	84,676		93,905
Commercial real estate, construction and land development loans	217,279		256,806
Commercial, industrial and other loans	577,118		597,023
Letters of credit	36,495		37,241

Commitments to extend credit are agreements to lend to a client 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. The Company evaluates each client’s credit-worthiness on a case-by-case basis. The amount of collateral obtained, if deemed necessary by the Company upon extension of credit, is based on management’s credit evaluation of the client. Collateral varies but may include accounts receivable, inventory, equipment, residential real estate, and income-producing commercial properties.

Standby letters of credit and financial guarantees written are conditional commitments issued by the Company to guarantee the performance of a client to a third party. Those guarantees are primarily issued to support clients' borrowing arrangements. The credit risk involved in issuing letters of credit is essentially the same as that involved in extending loans to clients. The Company holds collateral supporting those commitments when deemed necessary by management. The liability at March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025 for guarantees under standby letters of credit issued was not considered to be material.

The Company maintains a reserve on its off-balance sheet credit exposures, which totaled $2.0 million at March 31, 2026 and $2.4 million at December 31, 2025, respectively, and is recorded in other liabilities on the unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheets. The Company recorded a recovery of credit losses on off-balance sheet exposure of $376 thousand and zero for the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025, respectively. The reserve is based on management's estimate of expected losses in its off-balance sheet credit exposures. The reserve specific to unfunded loan commitments is determined by applying utilization assumptions based on historical experience and applying the expected loss rates by loan class. The change in the reserve for off-balance sheet credit exposures is recorded as a provision or reduction to expense through the provision for credit losses in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of income.