Lending Activities
We offer short and long-term real estate, consumer, commercial, agricultural and
other loans to individuals and businesses in our market areas. We have comprehensive
credit policies establishing company-wide underwriting and documentation standards
to assist management in the lending process and to limit our risk. Each loan must
meet minimum underwriting standards specified in our credit policies. Minimum
underwriting standards generally specify that loans (i) are made to borrowers
located within a designated geographical lending area with the exception of participation
loans and loans to national accounts; (ii) are made only for identified legal
purposes; (iii) have specifically identified sources of repayment; (iv) mature
within designated maximum maturity periods that coincide with repayment sources;
(v) are appropriately collateralized whenever possible, (vi) are supported by
current credit information; (vii) do not exceed the Bank's legal lending limit;
(viii) with fixed interest rates that reset are adjusted within designated time
frames; and (ix) require a flood determination prior to closing. In addition,
our minimum underwriting standards include lending limitations to prevent concentrations
of credit in agricultural, commercial, real estate or consumer loans. Further,
each minimum underwriting standard must be documented as part of the loan approval
process.
While each loan must meet minimum underwriting standards established in our credit
policies, lending officers are granted certain levels of authority in approving
and pricing loans to assure that the banking offices are responsive to competitive
issues and community needs in each market area. Lending authorities are established
at individual, branch and market levels. Branch and market lending authorities
are assigned annually by the Company's chief executive officer and chief credit
officer based on the size of the branch or market's loan portfolio and the branch
or market's historical credit performance. Individual loan officer lending limits
are approved annually by branch or market management and are based on the lending
experience of each individual loan officer. Branch and market lending limits and
aggregate lending relationships in excess of established limits, ranging from
$10 million to $15 million depending on the risk characteristics of the relationship,
are approved by the Bank's board of directors after review by the Credit Committee
of the Company's board of directors.
Deposit Products
We offer traditional depository products including checking, savings and time
deposits. Deposits at the Bank are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,
or FDIC, up to statutory limits. We also offer repurchase agreements primarily
to commercial and municipal depositors. Under repurchase agreements, we sell investment
securities held by the Bank to our customers under an agreement to repurchase
the investment securities at a specified time or on demand. All outstanding repurchase
agreements are due in one business day.
Wealth Management
We provide a wide range of trust, employee benefit, investment management, insurance,
agency and custodial services to individuals, businesses and nonprofit organizations.
These services include the administration of estates and personal trusts; management
of investment accounts for individuals, employee benefit plans and charitable
foundations; and insurance planning. As of December 31, 2015, the estimated fair
value of trust assets held in a fiduciary or agent capacity was $4.5 billion.
Centralized Services
We have centralized certain operational activities to provide consistent service
levels to our customers company-wide, to gain efficiency in management of those
activities and to ensure regulatory compliance. Centralized operational activities
generally support our banking offices in the delivery of products and services
to customers and include marketing; credit review; credit cards; mortgage loan
sales and servicing; indirect consumer loan purchasing and processing; loan
collections and, other operational activities. Additionally, specialized staff
support services have been centralized to enable our branches to serve their
markets more efficiently. These services include credit administration, finance,
accounting, human resource management, internal audit, facilities management,
technology, risk management, compliance and other support services.