Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has informed us that the Ministry of Administration, Republic of Palau, has revoked the corporate charter for an entity called First Pacific Development Bank, Ltd., effective August 27, 2001. Proposed transactions involving this entity should be viewed with extreme caution.

The revocation may affect the status of several subsidiaries that this entity reportedly has formed and may be operating in Germany, Ireland, Spain and elsewhere. The Ministry also advised that this entity had only been issued a corporate charter and had never applied for or been granted banking authority by the Republic of Palau. Accordingly, the entity has never had any authority to perform banking functions.

Information about this entity may be forwarded to the FDIC's Special Activities Section, 550 17th Street, N W, Room F-6012, Washington, DC 20429. Information also may be transmitted electronically to alert@fdic.gov.

For your reference, all FDIC Financial Institution Letters published since January of 1995 may be found on the FDIC's Web site at www.fdic.gov under "News, Events & FOIA." To learn how to automatically receive FDIC Financial Institution Letters through e-mail, please visit http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/announcements/index.html.

NOTE: Paper copies of FDIC financial institution letters may be obtained through the FDIC's Public Information Center, 801 17th Street, NW, Room 100, Washington, DC 20434 (800-276-6003 or (703) 562-2200).