|
|
Contact:
|
Robert Schmermund
(202) 857-3104
Jim Eberle
(202) 857-3145
|
Jim Eberle
(202) 857-3145 (work)
(703) 893-2593 (home)
[email protected]
|
For Immediate Release
December 8, 2003
#03-56 |
|
E-mail:
[email protected] |
|
| |
AMERICA’S COMMUNITY BANKERS, NASDAQ
LAUNCH COMMUNITY BANK INDEX
NEW YORK – America’s Community Bankers, the national trade association for community banks, and The NASDAQ Stock Market, the world’s largest electronic stock market, today launched the nation’s most broadly diversified stock index for community banks, the America’s Community Bankers NASDAQ Index.
The announcement was made at The NASDAQ Stock Market Open by ACB Chairman William W. Zuppe and NASDAQ senior officials. Zuppe is also president and chief operating officer of Sterling Financial Corp., Spokane, Wash.
“Beginning today, there’s a new tool for tracking the performance of our strong community-based banking sector,” Zuppe said in making the announcement. “It will bring greater visibility to community banking, which should yield greater liquidity and fairer valuations to our banks, thrifts and holding companies. It will measure where the nation’s economic action is taking place – in local communities across this country.
“Community banks are a key engine of this economy. We loan money to startups and to small businesses that create most of the new jobs. We make the American dream of a home of your own come true. We serve the needs of individuals and families with a wide range of banking and financial services. And we help our communities grow.
“Main Street has known about us for a long time. Now it’s time Wall Street did, too.”
Zuppe was accompanied at the market open by leading community bankers from across the country including California, Connecticut, North Carolina, Ohio and New York, and the president and CEO of America’s Community Bankers, Diane Casey-Landry.
ACB and NASDAQ developed the index as a yardstick for the capital markets to use in measuring the performance of community bank stocks, Zuppe said. The index includes 545 NASDAQ-listed community banks, with a market capitalization of about $175 billion. Based on FDIC data, the index excludes any of the 50 largest banks based on asset size, banks classified as having an “international specialization” and banks classified as having a “credit card specialization.”
The index will be calculated once a day using NASDAQ Official Closing Prices. It can be accessed on America’s Community Bankers’ website at www.AmericasCommunityBankers.com, or on NASDAQ’s website at www.nasdaq.com.
Unlike other NASDAQ indexes, the index will be a total return index, which means that companies’ dividends will be reinvested and included in the index value as of the ex-dividend date. The index will be adjusted for splits and spin-offs. When a company is no longer listed, it will be removed from the index. Newly listed companies will be added periodically.
America’s Community Bankers is the national trade association committed to shaping the future of
banking by being the innovative industry leader strengthening the competitive position of
community banks. To learn more about ACB, visit
www.AmericasCommunityBankers.com.
-30-
|
| |
About
ACB |
Government Relations | Products
& Services | Affiliates
| Members
Area
| ACB
News Bank | In
The Community | Tools
& Resources | Contact
Us |
America’s Community Bankers
900 Nineteenth Street, NW, Suite 400,Washington, D.C. 20006
phone 202-857-3100 | fax 202-296-8716 | [email protected]
Copyright 1996-2002 © America’s Community Bankers. All Rights Reserved.
|
|
|
