FDIC Federal Register Citations

 
BANK OF NEW ALBANY

March 17, 2004

Robert E. Feldman, Executive Secretary
Attention: Comments
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
550 17th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20429
  Re: 12 CFR Part 345

RE: Proposed Revisions to the Community Reinvestment Act Regulations

Dear Mr. Feldman:

We at the Bank of New Albany sure support the federal bank regulatory agencies' proposal to increase the asset threshold for small community banks from 250 million to 500 million for the CRA examination. It would be great if the threshold could be moved to one billion.

Our bank went under the large CRA examination in 2002 and this has increased our expenses about $25,000.00 annually. We sure could use this for a better cause. We are a 300 million dollar bank in a small town of 8,000 people.

Regulatory burdens on small banks keep growing and this has caused a lot of banks to have to sell or merge with other banks, which in turn hurts the communities like New Albany, Mississippi. We are the only local bank in our trade area, and by helping with some of these regulations maybe we can stay a community home town bank.

Sincerely,

Vance Witt
CEO and Chairman of the Board
Bank of New Albany
New Albany, MS