7 Quotes by Jimmy Tallent

Our balance sheet remains asset sensitive, which allowed us to benefit modestly from the rise in interest rates that produced a slight margin expansion throughout 2005.

Our operating efficiency ratio of 58.80% for the quarter is within our long-term efficiency goal of 58% to 60%, reflecting the success of our recent expansion efforts and the continued strength of our existing franchise.

We are committed to excellent customer service, superior operating performance and solid credit quality as we continue our efforts to build shareholder value through our balanced growth strategy of strong internal growth, complemented by selective de novo and merger expansion.

This represents an annual cash dividend of $.32 per share and an increase of $.04 per share, or 14%, over the dividends paid for 2005. This increase reflects our continued strong performance and commitment to deliver value to our shareholders.

During the fourth quarter, we resolved several non-performing assets, which slightly increased net charge-offs while lowering non-performing assets. Asset quality continues to compare favorably with peer banks and remains well within our tolerance levels. Strong credit quality, rooted with our guiding principle of securing loans with hard assets, is essential to our balanced growth strategy and overall success.

This is a significant milestone and our first public equity offering. We're very pleased with the investor community's positive response. This additional capital will allow us to continue to pursue and execute our successful balanced growth strategy.

The fourth quarter was outstanding for deposit growth. We added $281 million of deposits, nearly doubling the level needed to fund our strong loan growth of $144 million. Our relentless focus on the highest level of customer service has generated customer satisfaction scores that continue to exceed 90%, well above the comparable industry average of 75%. This is invaluable in building deposits through customer referrals while also maintaining and growing long-term relationships with existing customers.