FDIC Federal Register Citations

August 20, 2004

Communications Division
Public Information Room
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
250 E. Street S.W.
Washington, D. C. 20219

Dear Sir:

The officers and directors of this bank are very adamant about increasing the regulatory threshold from $250 million to $500 million, considering inflation and growth we favor even a larger threshold to $1 billion.

Our bank feels raising of this threshold will enable our limited staff to better administer and police recent and existing regulations including:

1. Release of lending information under the terms of the new privacy act.

2. Provide more time and attention in our efforts to service the existing minorities and rural customers spread out over the large territory we serve.

The consolidation and mergers of banks in the high end of the threshold has created an untimely growth in the size of banks in the lower end of the threshold. Many of these banks were under $250 million prior to 1995 when the CRA regulation was passed and now those banks are well above the $250 million size.

The regulatory burden of creating administrating and policing the HMDA, U.S. Patriot Act and Gramm-Leach Bliley have dropped an avalanche of paperwork on the smaller institutions and we feel this time and paperwork has adversely affected the safety and soundness of some institutions whom we feel should give a high priority to the safety and soundness of their financial institutions.

J. P. Hamilton
Board Chairman
Farmers National Bank