ACB NASDAQ Index Tells Community Banks' Story

Hoosier Banker, Jun 2006 by Casey-Landry, Diane

From Broadway's bright lights to San Francisco's Golden Gate, America's Community Bankers is giving banks on the ACB NASDAQ Index a unique opportunity to tell their story to analysts and investors.

What a story community banks have to tell. Since the ACB NASDAQ Index was launched on Dec. 2, 2003, it is up 24.99 percent on a cumulative basis through the first quarter of 2006.

The community bank sector is a strong performer over time, and it deserves more attention from Wall Street. That was ACB's goal in devising and promoting the Index and in creating our community bank investor conferences - forums in which financial analysts meet community bankers on neutral ground.

Some 500 community banks with a combined market capital of more than $200 billion are listed on the Index. It is the most broadly representative stock index for community banks. The financial wires report the intraday pricing of the Index using the symbol ^ACBQ. It can also be viewed, on a total return basis, on the ACB website at www.AmericasCommunityBankers.com.

By focusing on community banks' performance, ACB and NASDAQ have created an Index that is:

* Useful for community bank proxy statements;

* A measurement of community bank performance for the financial media reporting on community banks.

Ten publicly traded community banks listed on the ACB NASDAQ Index told their financial story to 100 investors, analysts and journalists at ACB's sixth community bank investor conference in New York in early May. Another New York conference will take place Nov. 1-2.

In February, 19 community banks on the Index presented to more than 100 investors and analysts in San Francisco, giving ACB's community bank investor conference exposure to analysts and investors on berth coasts.

Many bankers find that telling their story at an investor conference pays off in new exposure and new interest. Edward Lett, president and chief executive officer of TIB Bank, Key Largo, Fla., found that, "As a new member of ACB, it didn't take long for us to benefit substantially by presenting at the investor conference."

A specific forum for banks to tell their story is particularly important in an environment in which analysts routinely cover as many as 60 banks.

These ACB-sponsored community bank investor conferences are a first in the community banking industry, with ACB acting as an honest broker in putting together the program of presenters. The conferences were developed soon after the launch of the America's Community Bankers NASDAQ Index, also an industry first.

The investor conferences go well beyond the presentations hankers make. Each conference also includes a half-day investor relations hoot camp that offers a review of critical information on marketing a community hank to investors.

At the San Francisco boot camp, for example, bankers were reminded that they meet potential new investors every day. They were told to "examine your shareholder base." Another speaker urged bankers to tell their story often and in different ways to make an impact on analysts. "You've got to get inside their heads," bankers were told.

Investor relations has been complicated by Regulation Fair Disclosure, the Selective Disclosure and Insider Trading Rule, which the Securities and Exchange Commission wrote in 2000. While bankers and investor relations officers must understand the importance of Reg FD, it does not preclude investor relations.

Banks listed on the ACB NASDAQ Index that want to present at a future community bank investor conference, or learn what presenting entails, are invited to contact Helen Sullivan, ACBs senior vice president for financial and capital markets solutions, at hsullivan@acbankers.org.

With the growing importance of the Index, ACB is increasing coverage of the capital markets, the Index and our investor conferences by making Value, ACB's community bank Wall Street report, a monthly publication instead of a quarterly. Value is distributed to subscribers of ACB's weekly newsletter, Washington Perspective, and to the managing officers of institutions listed on the ACB NASDAQ Index.

The America's Community Bankers NASDAQ Index promotes the value of individual banks and serves as a national platform to promote the critical role that all community banks play in growing local economies across the country - the engine that drives the national economy.

Diane Casey-Landry

America's Community Bankers

About the Author

Diane Casey-Landry has been serving as president and chief executive officer of America's Community Bankers since 2000. She also is immediate past president of Women in Housing and Finance. Casey-Landry has a bachelor's degree from Miami University and a master's degree George Washington University.